I received a beautiful bookmark for St. Patty's Day all the way from France today. I really love puffy envelopes. And I'm posting here the card I stitched for Clara in Belgium as she has now received the package.

Just a quick note before heading to bed. It's been a long weekend in that we have been stuck at home for most of it. Lots of snow on the ground and that's covering the thick layer of ice. Trees hang heavy and many branches are down in our part of town. We were lucky enough, however, to never lose power. I heard somewhere that over 100,000 people in the area had lost power. Thankfully that didn't include us.

 

Here's a couple of pretty photos of our yard. Will post more soon.

Our peace lilly (the smaller one) has not one bloom, but two more on the way. It was a tiny three leaved plant in a basket from the DNR folks for dad's funeral 3 years ago and was about to die when we chose to re-pot it and give it a chance. And it has thrived.

 

In other news, tonight we made a King Cake (ok, 4 loaves instead of one big cake) for Mardi Gras day at work tomorrow. Attached is a photo of how they came out ... and mmm, they are yummy!

Daniel, you are the love of my life and God's blessing.

Happy Birthday - Tristan! Our "bubba" turns 9 today. Happy birthday, furball. =)

 

Today it got up into the low 30s ... which during the day while the sun was out it felt like a heat wave. I went out to Target for some shopping and then stopped to get some groceries on the way home. I even had the window cracked a bit on the car to let in some fresh air. It was a good back day so I really wanted to get out and walk some - it felt good. Tonight we had pork chops, green beans and baked potatoes. Great comfort food on a cold day.

 

Proud Moment: Last friday I lost quite a bit of what I'd gained in past weeks. Did I do anything different? Not really. That can be more frustrating then knowing I had done something really bad in the other weeks or something like that. But I've been doing well, journaling and got a new angel last week, "Chrysalis." Link to her is over there on the left under Willow Tree Angels. I get one with a full week of journaling and making it to my weekly WW meeting. =)

 

PS: Here's the update on "Wedding Bells":

 

Have you ever found that you have reached that part of your life when you see people as just people? Labels you once placed on people begin to wane and you find yourself seeing the world differently - practically overnight? I'm there... and I like it.

 

I received the sweetest, most caring email from a friend of my mothers and as I read it something triggered in my brain that this was a person, with a history and living towards a future - just _ like _ me. Concept. She may be further on the journey, but that didn't even register while I read her words. She was just another person on this planet who was thinking of me and willing to take the time to write me quite a long letter of advice and shared ideas and suggestions that came from the heart. I hope she realizes just what that meant to me at this time in my life. (Thanks, S)

 

I encourage each of you to take a moment and let those whom are on your heart and in your thoughts know just that. It's amazing what that can mean to a person. *hugs*

Well, it was a pretty lousy year for ads - it's a good thing that it was actually an awesome game. Now I have to wait until August for football again... bring on baseball and the boys of summer! Here's a listing of all comercials... those in red are the ones I liked. There is a link at the bottom to where you can watch them all.

 

My Favorite: GM,"Robot Unemployment"

 

Pre-Game:
Pizza Hut, "Cheesy Bites"; NFL Network, "Sweet Party"

 

1st Quarter:
Doritos, "Live the Flavor"; Salesgenie dot com; Sierra Mist, "Bad Decison"; Sierra Mist, "Self Defense"; Bud Light, "Rock, Paper, Scissors"; Blockbuster, "Click a Mouse"; FedEx, "Moon Office"; Bud Light, "Wedding Auction"; Schick, "Quatro Titanium"; "Toyota Tundra, "Desert Dog"; Chevrolet, "Sing a Song"; Snickers, "The Kiss"; Bud Light, "Mind of Mencia"

 

2nd Quarter:
GoDaddy.com, "Marketing", Coke, "Give a Little Love", Garmin, "Mapzilla"; Budweiser, "Dalmations"; Chevy, "All-Male car wash"; Careerbuilder.com, "Bad day in the office"; Doritos, "Cleanup on Register 6"; American Heart Association, "You Gotta Have Heart"; Bud Light, "Slap Fight"; GM,"Robot Unemployment"; Coca-Cola, "I Have a Dream"; Sprint, "Connectile Dysfunction"; Frito-Lay, "Dungy and Smith"; Coca-Cola, "First Diet Coke"; Honda, "The Ridgeline"

 

3rd Quarter:
Bud Light, Gossip Problems; Nissan, Versa;  E-Trade, "Bank Robbers"; Cocoa-COla, "Where Your Quarter Goes";  Bud Light, "What'd You Say?"; Van Heusen, "Day in Reverse"; Careerbuilder.com, "Fight to the Death"; Taco Bell, "Lions"; Emerald Nuts, "Low Blood Sugar"; Toyota Tundra, "Scaffold", Nationwide Mutal Unsurance, "K-Fed", Bud Light, "It's a Bottle Opener"; FedEx, "Names"

 

4th Quarter:
Budweiser, "Our God", Lexus, "Copter Drop"; Prudential, "The Rock"; Honda, "Crave"; Budweiser, "Shula Vs. Jay-Z"; HP, "Personal Computers"; Izod, "Snow Globe"; Flomax, "Here's to Guys"; E-Trade, "One Finger"; Careerbuilder.com, "Jungle Office"; Honda, "Fuel Efficiency", Snapple, Quest for Snapple"

 

Link to Videos:

Well, the Colts beat the Bears in the Super Bowl tonight ... and I got a lot of stitching done while watching the game instead of eating tons of food that I really wouldn't want anyway. Dan and I stayed home and didn't do any parties this year ... probably a good thing as it's so very cold outside and was a great day to stay in and get some stitching done on my "Wedding Bells."

 

Other then that we cleaned one of the guest rooms and the kitchen ... and are going to try a new chili in the crock pot tomorrow so stay tuned to see how that comes out.

 

Good night and sweet dreams

Sometimes a moment can take you by surprise and warm your heart. It's in that moment that you count your blessings, feel God whispering and begin to feel like maybe, just maybe - there's light at the end of a dark tunnel.

 

Tonight I'm sitting infront of a roaring fire while the temperatures are below zero outside with a harsh wind chill. We decided to open a bottle of wine we got on our honeymoon last March in Venice, Italy ... only to realize we don't have a cork screw. Instead we used a wood screw and a power drill... but we did achieve success and were about sip the special wine from our wineglasses (the first time we've used them) and our song, "When you say nothing at all" by Alison Kraus came on the radio... it was a beautiful moment.

 

I wish each of you your own beautiful moment. Life has been hard lately - full of physical pain and an emotional down, but I'm feeling better now and have a spark of hope in my heart. Going to go now and curl up with my blessing to read and enjoy the rest of the night.

 

God  Bless.